Working Out While Traveling

Whether it’s a business trip a few towns over or a vacation on the other side of the world, working out while traveling is notoriously tough to do. Tougher still is avoiding the junk food, late nights and alcohol consumption often associated with both business trips and vacations.

Helpful tips for working out while traveling

But there are a few things that you can do to shake things up and stay on top of your fitness ambitions even while you’re on the move!

Don’t forget your gear – ‘I don’t have my sneakers or my yoga pants’ is way too easy, not to mention lame, of an excuse not to stay active while traveling!

Use your environment – Staying near a beach? Running on sand burns way more calories than pounding the pavement! Or, if there are mountains around, give hill sprints a try. Race you to the top…

Be creative – Take a leaf out of MacGyver’s book; the average hotel room is full of makeshift fitness tools. For example, all you need for some elevated push-ups and tricep dips is a bed or chair.

Get a room with a kitchen – Not always a possibility, but your bank account and waistline will definitely thank you if you have the option to whip up something healthy instead of hitting a restaurant for every meal.

And, of course, there’s an app for that. There are plenty of tools and fitness apps out there to help you track your calories (e.g. MyFitnessPal), find local gyms if your hotel doesn’t have one and so on. If you’re trying to stay fit while traveling, making use of some of the technology out there is a way to help you do just that.

Traveling looks very different depending on whether you’re on the move for business or pleasure, so we’ve also put together a few tips specific to staying fit depending on when you’re on a business trip or vacation.

Working out on business trips

There’s something about those humming neon lights in conference rooms that just sucks the life right out of you. Hitting the gym before meetings start, or once they’ve wound down for the day, might be the last thing on your mind but your body will thank you for it. Proving this to yourself early in the trip will help you stick with it as the days go by.

Strength in numbers! If one of your colleagues is into fitness too, make plans before the trip to hit the hotel gym with them. Twice the accountability means you’re less likely to bail out because you’re not in the mood to work out. Plus you’ll get to know them a bit more outside of an office setting!

Staying fit while on vacation

Don’t underestimate the exercise associated with just seeing the sights. We recently read that the average person walks over 50 miles every week they spend at Walt Disney World! Exploring a new city clocks up plenty of miles too, so you don’t always have to feel guilty about missing your cardio sessions.

For many people, travel is about experiencing other cultures – extending that to fitness can be a great way to make working out while traveling enjoyable. A Tai Chi session in China or a yoga experience in India will burn some calories, but it might also prove to be an enlightening, once in a lifetime experience!

Working out while traveling is never going to be the easiest thing in the world to do – the stability of a fitness routine is naturally at odds with the spontaneous and flexible nature of traveling. But that doesn’t mean that, if you take note of some of the tips above, you can’t keep fit away from home.

It’s also important to remember that vacations are supposed to be fun. If you’re totally preoccupied with working out the whole time, you’re not going to have any. Come back well rested and refreshed, on the other hand, and you’ll be ready to get back to owning it in the gym!